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In a vote today, the U.S. Senate passed a historic immigration
reform bill whose provisions include a visa for foreign-born
startup founders and an increase in the number of visas available
to highly skilled workers employed by technology companies. The
bill also offers a path to citizenship for the millions of
immigrants already living illegally in the United States.

Although the bill drew bipartisan
support in the Senate, with 14 Republicans voting for it, it
will almost certainly face a tougher fight in the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives in the weeks to
come. In an emailed statement, billionaire Steve Case, a
staunch proponent of the bill, lauded the vote for advancing "an
immigration system that meets the needs of our 21st-century
economy."

Immigration reform is necessary to win "the global battle for
talent," Case told Entrepreneur.com in a recent sit-down
interview. In addition to cultivating home-grown talent, "we also
have to make sure we remain the place people want to come -- not
just to get an education but to start a company, so that the next
big companies and the next big industries are here," Case said.

Among the reform bill's measures designed to draw talent to the
U.S. is a proposed increase of the cap on H-1B visas. These visas
are given to skilled technical workers of the kind that fuel
Silicon Valley companies, from giants like Apple to the smallest
startups. If the bill becomes law, it will raise the annual limit
on H-1B visas to 110,000 from the current 65,000 -- with the
possibility of going even higher in the years ahead.

The bill also would create a new class of visa for foreign-born
entrepreneurs who want to start up in the States. Several other
countries, including Canada, the U.K. and Singapore, already
offer such a visa, and the bill's supporters see it as a crucial
means of staying competitive in the global economy.

Although some view immigration as a moral issue, or a political
issue, Case said, he views it "in a much more strategic way, as
an opportunity we need to seize." American leadership in the
world "is not an accident," he said, but rather "the work of
entrepreneurs," many of them immigrants. "We're a startup
nation."